In search of his 100th A-League goal, Besart Berisha was able to find the back of net in the 28th minute after a Marco Rojas through ball but the Albanian’s effort was ultimately denied by the offside flag.

Just minutes later, James Troisi then forced Vedran Janjetovic to tip his curling effort over the crossbar as Victory started to penetrate the Western Sydney defence.

The Wanderers were similarly getting a stronger sniff of Victory’s goal with a poor back pass in the 39th minute gifting Nicolas Martinez a chance with Lawrence Thomas doing well to clear the resulting drilled shot with his feet.

In added time, Victory then did well to clear a Martinez cross destined for Santalab as the first half ended goalless.

After a fairly underwhelming first 45 minutes, Victory sought to start the second on the right foot with Troisi charging forward in the 49th minute and lashing a ball across goal that none of his were able to latch on to.

The Wanderers replicating their opponents just minutes later as the Victory were lucky to clear a Scott Neville ball into the box.

Victory’s luck however running out in the 53rd minute when Daniel Georgievski was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Scott Neville and given his marching orders.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Melbourne continued to push for a goal and went close through an ultimately offside James Donachie after the hour mark.

With the extra man, the red and black were starting to find plenty of space but Victory were desperate to keep a clean sheet with Leigh Broxham doing well to block a goal-bound Terry Antonis free-kick in the 72nd minute.

After a deluge of blocked shots, there were 16 in total on the night, Martinez was finally able to get a shot away for Western Sydney in the 85th minute with his dipping, curling effort to the bottom left of goal saved well by Thomas.

In the dying minutes, Dimas saw his close range shot cleared before Steven Lustica fired wide as the Wanderers were forced to settle for a goalless draw.

The result ending Western Sydney’s bid for a top four finish but meaning little else with both sides assured a spot in the finals.